This is just a small sample of the
discrimination caused by the many federal financial and work-related laws which
exclude same-sex couples and their children.

It
is not just Australia’s same-sex couples who suffer discrimination; it is
their children too. Approximately 20% of lesbian couples and 5% of gay couples
in Australia are raising children. The financial disadvantages imposed on
same-sex parents will inevitably have an impact on their children.

This discrimination breaches human rights. And
it can be stopped. All it takes is a few changes to the definitions in some
federal laws.

Same-sex families; second-class
citizens

The Same-Sex: Same
Entitlements Inquiry spent more than three months travelling around
Australia holding public hearings and community forums to hear, first hand,
about the impact of discriminatory laws on gay and lesbian couples. Those public
consultations, and some of the 680 written submissions received by the Inquiry,
clearly describe the financial and emotional strain placed on gay and lesbian
couples who are trying to enjoy their lives like everybody else in the
community.

A same-sex couple from Adelaide
said the following:

We are an average suburban family. We are working hard
and contributing to our community. We don’t want special treatment –
just what others can expect from their legal and social community. Our rights
are denied simply because of who we love. We just want
equality.

A lesbian parent in Sydney made a
similar plea:

I am not a second class citizen and resent my family
and I being treated as such. All I ask is to be treated equally, no more and no
less than any other Australian. Just
equal.

A gay doctor put it like
this:

I am a first-class taxpayer but a second-class
citizen.

Federal laws breach human
rights

The Same-Sex: Same
Entitlements Inquiry conducted an audit of federal laws relating to
financial and work-related entitlements in order to identify those which
discriminate against same-sex couples and their children.

The Inquiry has identified 58 federal laws
(listed in Appendix 1) which breach the rights of same-sex couples and in some
cases the rights of their children.

The Same-Sex: Same Entitlements Inquiry finds that:

1. The 58 federal laws in Appendix 1 discriminate
against same-sex couples in the area of financial and work-related entitlements.
Those laws breach the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.

2. Many of the federal laws in Appendix 1 discriminate
against the children of same-sex couples and fail to protect the best interests
of the child in the area of financial and work-related entitlements. Those laws
breach the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Simple amendments will remove
discrimination

It is simple to remove
discrimination against same-sex couples in federal financial and work-related
entitlements: change the definitions in the 58 laws listed in Appendix 1 to this
report.

There is no need to rewrite federal
tax legislation, superannuation legislation, workers’ compensation
legislation, employment legislation, veterans’ entitlements legislation or
any other major area of federal financial entitlements. There just needs to be
some changes to a few definitions at the front of each relevant piece of
legislation.

The Same-Sex: Same
Entitlements Inquiry recommends that:

1. The federal government should amend the
discriminatory laws identified by this Inquiry to ensure that same-sex and
opposite-sex couples enjoy the same financial and work-related
entitlements.

2. The federal government should amend the
discriminatory laws identified by this Inquiry to ensure that the best interests
of children in same-sex and opposite-sex families are equally protected in the
area of financial and work-related entitlements.

Human rights protections for same-sex couples and their
children (Chapter 3).

How federal law currently defines a couple; what states
and territories have done to remove discrimination; how formal relationship
recognition schemes may impact on access to financial entitlements; and a new
definition of ‘de facto relationship’ for all federal laws, which
would remove ongoing discrimination against same-sex couples (Chapter
4).

How family law defines a parent-child relationship when a
child is born to a same-sex couple; how family law impacts on access to
financial and work-related entitlements; and what should change to remove
ongoing discrimination against children in same-sex families (Chapter
5).

The impact of discrimination against same-sex couples and
their children in federal financial and work-related entitlements. The table of
contents in each topic-specific chapter includes a summary of the entitlements
which are, or are not, available to same-sex couples and families. The chapters
describe how the relevant legislation applies to same-sex couples and families.
Each chapter concludes with a list of legislation setting out what definitions
need to change to remove discrimination in the following areas: